They're middle schoolers, remember?
by kurotaiyo
Summary: Prince of Tennis is a perfect harem for the high school girl. Poor girl.


She was tired.

She was tired from sitting in the bright sun in an open stadium, tired of listening to her boyfriend bitching about how strong the tennis players were, tired of being his girlfriend, tired of-

_Ring._

She scrambled to reach her phone.

"Hello? This is Sanada Gen."

Silence.

"Hello?"

Another silence, then "Gen-chan… normally, people who receive the calls don't introduce themselves first. What if some pervert was calling you?"

It was her friend, Yukiko.

"What is it, Yukiko-chan?" Sanada Gen asked. She glanced up and saw that everyone around her was staring at her intently. She could hear whispers of "Did you hear her name just now?","Is she related to THAT Sanada Genichirou?", "A cousin probably," and "Wow, she must be amazing at tennis" circling around her.

Not this again.

Sanada Gen was tired of people asking if she was related to Sanada Genichirou, and she was tired of saying no. She was equally tired of people asking her if she could play tennis well. Just because she went to Rikkai High School, just because she had a similar name to him, and just because they both were skilled in swordsmanship, people assumed that they were both related and both amazing at tennis.

_Well_, she thought grumpily_, it's sort of hard not to think that._

"…you up?" Yukiko voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Uh, sorry, what?" Gen could hear her friend sigh in exasperation.

"Do you want my mom and me to pick you up?"

"Oooh," Gen replied slowly, remembering that for the past few matches, she had secretly called her friend to come bail her out of her misery. Her boyfriend had always been too intent on scratching down all the weaknesses he had discovered in the matches to even notice that the stadium had been cleared.

"Oh, well, you see, my cousin was really upset the last time I left as soon as the matches finished. Apparently, I didn't get to see him play against this monster of his afterwards. He's making me watch finals up to the end. Then I'm supposed to bring him out to eat later."

"Okay.. . so you don't need a ride?"

"Yeah, I don't. Thanks though."

"No problem." She heard her friend pause for a second, then ask, "Do you plan on bringing the rest of the team around as well? And how about Mizuki-san?"

Mizuki was her so-called boyfriend.

"Yeah, that was part of the plan. And seriously, I doubt he really cares. He's probably going to dump me soon… I mean, he managed to get a lot of information on the players this time around."

"You guys… come on, Gen-chan, why did you even bother saying yes? I'm sure you suspected something was up when he first met you. Why would a guy who's younger than you, in a completely different school, and a complete tennis research freak ask you out? It's _obviously _because he thought you were related to Sanada Genichirou-san."

Gen was silent for a minute.

"Well…I didn't really think about it."

"You really need to start thinking. How long have you been dating? A month?"

"Dunno. Maybe."

"Can't even remember how long you had to stay with him…" Yukiko mumbled into the phone. She paused, then asked, "So… how was the match?"

Gen stared at the court where the teams were being handed their awards. She smiled as she watched her cousin happily dance as he received his medal. _He's hyper…like normal._ She frowned at the memory of his complete defeat at the hands of Seiichi Yukimura played in her mind.

"Scary. It was almost like watching a sword fight. Especially Sanada Genichirou's match."

"Well, he _does_ come from a traditional family."

"Yeah, I know. Which makes it even more annoying when people find out we both can use swords."

Gen was about to begin her regular rant about how fate, God, whoever, or whatever up there really hated her. "I do _kenbu_, he probably just plays around with his sword."

"Right, you're different," Yukiko automatically answered. She was getting too used to listening to Gen's rants for her own good. She changed the subject quickly, "So, did our middle school win?"

"No. Seigaku did."

"Really? That's terrible!"

"Not really. I'm actually really glad they got beaten."

"…that's some great school spirit you got there. "

"They've been overrated for long enough. And you know how Seiichi Yukimura-san plays; I hate it so much. No one can hurt my Kin-chan. _No one_. "

"Uh…," cough, "wait…what exactly happened? I thought Seigaku was playing."

"Apparently that chibi lost his memory or something, so Kin-chan decided to stall a bit for him until that chibi regained his memories."

"Oh, that's… interesting." Gen could hear some disbelief in her voice. "And that same chibi won against our child of god? That's not possible."

Gen sighed. _It's not _im_possible._

"I'm going to go now, Yukiko-chan. See you when school starts."

"Eh? When school… oh right, you're going to Osaka again?"

"Yep, for the rest of summer."

"Have fun. Don't forget to finish your summer homework."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

Nationals were over, and Sanada Gen was still tired.

_Sight-seeing, huh? I really spoil him too much._

…_summer homework?_

_Craaaaaaaaaaaap._

_

* * *

  
_

"ONEE-CHAN!!"

The uppercase letters and double exclamation points were quite necessary, as Tooyama Kintarou's shouts transcended shouts of single exclamation points. Gen winced. _Just…a little _too_ loud, Kin-chan,_ she thought as she rubbed her ears gently.

"ONEE-CHAN!!"

Gen looked around for the source of the voice. She was standing in the middle of a crowd of people leaving the stadium, waiting for her cousin's team to come out.

"ONEE-CHAN!!"

Again. She was about to screech back when she got knocked over by what felt like a bag of bricks.

"Onee-chan!"

It was Kintarou.

"Gen-chan, look at this medal!" He shoved a bronze medal in front of her face. "Its so cool!"

Gen nodded weakly. "That's great, Kin-chan. Can you… get… off me?"

Kintarou looked down and noticed that he had pinned his cousin to the floor.

"Sorry, onee-chan!" He smiled bashfully as he got up quickly, but not without unintentionally digging his knee into her stomach for support.

"Oof." Gen rubbed her stomach gingerly, and stood up slowly.

"So," she said, looking around the crowd again, "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Here." She felt a heavy weight on her head and looked behind her. There stood Kuranosuke Shiraishi nonchalantly placing his bandaged hand on her head.

"Sh-shiraishi-buchou!" She scrambled back, completely surprised. "I didn't even hear you come up behind me!"

"Be careful, nee-chan! Shiraishi's hand is-," Kintarou began to exclaim, but was stopped by a glare from Shiraishi. Kintarou cowered in fear.

_He… still hasn't found out?_ Gen stared at her cousin with a little surprise in her face. You see, Gen used to believe that Shiraishi's bandaged hand was poisonous as well. However, luckily for her, she managed to see what was really underneath his bandage.

"Kin-chan, don't worry. All that's under that-," she stopped and felt the glare of the Shitenhouji captain turn onto her. She stuttered in fear. "Uh, uh, w-well, under that bandage is something even more frightening than poisonous claws."

Shiraishi shook his head in disbelief as the rest of the Shitenhouji team came up chatting loudly. He walked up to Gen, and flicked the top of her head with his bandaged fingers.

"Does stupidity run though the blood of the Tooyama family?" he asked, staring fiercely down at the short girl.

"S-s-s-sorry," Gen mumbled weakly. He smiled and ruffled her hair.

"Hey, Shiraishi buchou! Don't you think you're being too hard on Gen-neesan? Are you an S-type?" Konjiki Koharu said teasingly. Shiraishi and the rest laughed loudly. Kintarou knudged his cousin in the ribs.

"Ne, nee-chan, what's an S-type?" He whispered in his cousin's ear. Gen shrugged.

"Well, Sanada-chan, Kin-chan's been raving about how you were going to treat us to a food tour," Watanabe Osamu said as he smirked.

"I hope you brought enough money," added Oshitari Kenya, "Feeding him is like feeding an army of soldiers." Kenya paused as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Right, I nearly forgot that I'm supposed to spend some time with my cousin's family."

"Aw," Gen whined disappointedly, "I was hoping to bring along Yuushi-kun with us too."

"Sorry, Gen-chan, maybe another time."

Ishida Gin cleared his throat. "I also need to spend time with my family. It's been awhile since we've been together."

Kintarou and Gen both pouted.

"Mah," Chitose Senri drawled, "Then the eight of us can go without you two. I'm sure _some_ people wouldn't mind the less competition." He smirked.

"Yeah," Kintarou said, "More food for me!"

"Excuse me."

Sanada Gen felt her body experience a wave of slight disgust at the sound of an oh-so familiar voice.

"Why," Watanabe commented, "Isn't it the team St. Rudolph?"

_Uuugh._

"Shitenhouji Middle School, huh?" Mizuki's arrogant voice filled the air. "How interesting. So, Gen-chan." Gen stiffened slightly. "How are you related to Shitenhouji?"

Kintarou sprung in front of him. "She's my cousin!" he exclaimed happily, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh?" Mizuki raised an eyebrow. "So either you're not Sanada Genichirou's cousin, or Tooyama Kintarou is distantly related to him as well."

Kintarou looked at him quizzically. "Gen-chan's that super serious guy's cousin?"

Mizuki opened his mouth to speak again, but found that Fuji Yuuta's hand was firmly clamped over his mouth.

"Excuse me, Gen-san, Shitenhouji," he apologized as the rest of the team bowed, "We'll be taking our leave."

Shitenhouji watched as St. Rudolph forcefully dragged a still muffled Mizuki away to their bus. They turned to a visibly relieved Gen.

"You really have it tough with that boyfriend, huh?" Koshikawa Kenjiro observed. Kintarou nudged Shiraishi in the ribs and asked, "What's a boyfriend?"

Shiraishi just shook his head.

Gen nodded at the vice captain. "He makes me pay, and he only wants to go to expensive, high class places," she lamented.

"It's your own stupidity's fault," Zaizen Hikaru said in a snarky tone. Gen glared at him.

"Thanks, Zaizen-kun," Gen said dryly.

"We should get going," Shiraishi's voice cut through quickly.

"Right."

Gin and Kenya promised Shiraishi that they would be back at the hotel by the curfew, and quickly left to meet up with their families. Gen looked at the remainder of her group.

"So. Let's start with-"

"A SHABU SHABU!" Kintarou exclaimed excitedly.

"…It's a little too early for dinner still," Shiraishi commented.

"SHABU SHABU!"

Gen grinned widely, "Shabu shabu it is!"

The Shitenhouji team thought one thing as they watched the two cousins prance away:

_She really spoils him way too much._

* * *

"Shabu, shabu shabu shabuuuu," sang Kintarou as he swished his slice of meat through the boiling water. Gen smiled sweetly at her cousin, looked down to peek at her wallet, and quickly snapped it shut. She coughed nervously. Hitouji Yuuji glanced over at the poor girl and smirked.

"If you weren't so stupid, you wouldn't have to be worrying about paying," he said in Zaizen's voice.

"Hey!" Zaizen protested, "Don't use my voice unless I say you can."

Gen reached over and smacked the complaining boy on the shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Zaizen whined, "That was Yuuji-sempai, not me. Why'd you hit me?"

"Because you would have said that if he hadn't."

Zaizen huffed because he knew she was right. He reached across the table for meat to purposefully block Gen's path to the boiling pot. She wrinkled her nose at him as her chopsticks froze in mid-air. Shiraishi watched as electricity flew between their eyes and shook his head.

"Gen-san! Apologize to Zaizen," he ordered.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Zaizen-kun," she immediately answered.

"Zaizen! Stop leaning over the table. You're ruining the order of everything on the table."

"Yes, yes," Zaizen responded as he withdrew to his seat begrudgingly.

"Kintarou! Don't put more than one slice of meat into the pot. It's not organized."

"Aw, but its faster this way," whined Kintarou.

"You've already eaten two plates of meat. Remember that it's your cousin paying for this."

Kintarou pouted but followed his captain's orders.

"Watanabe-sensei! Please don't drink too much alcohol; it's still bright outside, and we can't afford having you drunk on the tour," Shiraishi continued, as he turned to the slightly tipsy older man.

"Yes, yes, Shiraishi-dono."

Shiraishi silently groaned. "Koharu, Yuuji! You know I don't mind seeing you guys… kiss, but you're scaring the other customers."

The two pulled away from their clutches and whined, "But we just made up."

Shiraishi covered his face with his bandaged hand.

"That's wonderful, now save it for later." He reached for his glass of water, paused, and without turning, said, "Chitose."

Chitose turned around at the doorway of the restaurant.

"Yes, buchou?"

"Please, sit down. The last thing we need is to lose you in the middle of Tokyo."

Chitose just smiled.

"Now."

Chitose shrugged, walked back to the table and sat next to a cowering Kintarou.

"If buchou orders so, I will," Chitose replied. Kintarou wailed, "Chitose! I was so scared that Shiraishi was going to take off the bandage because of you!"

Shiraishi sighed.

"Excuse me," he asked a waiter passing by, "may we please have the check."

* * *

"Mou, I don't have any money left," whined Gen as they trudged out of the restaurant.

"It's your own-" began Zaizen. He was interrupted by an elbow in the ribs from Gen.

"I'm still hungry!" exclaimed Kintarou. Kenjiro sighed, "You're always hungry, Kin-chan."

"Oh! What a cute boy," cooed Koharu, "Lock on."

"Stop it! That's adulterous!" Yuuji glared at his doubles partner who simply smiled back happily.

Shiraishi glanced at his team as he supported a tipsy Watanabe.

"Chitose, instead of wandering off on your own every five minutes, how about helping me with Watanabe- sensei?" he called after the retreating figure. Chitose stopped and turned to wave back at the captain.

"You seem to be handling it quite fine. I'm going to visit the park for a bit," he called back as he turned away and continued walking away. Shiraishi sighed and shifted Watanabe's body to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. _If only Chitose was as naïve as Kintarou…_

"Ara?" Gen said suddenly. Shiraishi looked up in surprise as he heard Kintarou yell out, "Kenya, Oshitari! Over here, over here!"

"I thought you guys were going to spend time together with your family," questioned Kenjiro. Yuushi nodded, "Yeah, fukubuchou, but you see…"

_30 minutes ago_

"Hey, uh, Yuushi-kun?"

"What is it, Kenya-kun?"

"How long do we have to wait until you're parents come home?"

"Well," Oshitari Yuushi turned to his cousin who was sprawled on his extravagantly decorated bed, "They _said _ that they would come home early for dinner, but it seems like they're running late. Father's a doctor, you know, and mother's-"

"Some hot shot CEO," finished Kenya.

"Kenya-kun," warned Yuushi.

"What? It's true."

"You didn't have to add the hot shot before that."

"…sorry."

"It's okay."

There was a silence. Then Yuushi's phone began to ring.

"Hello? Mother?" Yuushi answered the phone, "You can't make it for dinner at all today? Oh. Alright I'll tell father. See you later."

He closed his cell and looked at Kenya. "Obaachan isn't coming," Kenya said for him. Yuushi nodded and sighed, "Well, we've still got my father, but I wouldn't be surprised if he called saying he was busy."

As if in answer, his cell phone began to ring again. Yuushi glanced and the caller ID and pushed up his glasses.

"I was right."

_Back to the present_

"So, you see, after my father said he couldn't come, I decided that we should just go out by ourselves," concluded Yuushi.

Shiraishi chuckled, "Well, you can join the party. Unfortunately, we've already eaten dinner, so you'll have to buy something along the way."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Kintarou, "We can have takoyaki together, right, nee-chan?"

Said nee-chan paled. Zaizen sighed, "Kin-chan, Osaka's takoyaki is cheaper than Tokyo's takoyaki, there's no point in getting it here."

"Don't worry," said Yuushi, "I'll pay for him."

Gen looked at the acclaimed Hyoutei tensai.

"Honma ya?" She asked in the Osakan dialect.

"Honma ya." Yuushi smirked. Shiraishi raised his eyebrow, "I nearly thought you forgot your Osakan dialect for a minute, Gen-san; you were speaking with a Tokyo accent the entire time."

"Come on, Shiraishi-buchou, of course I remember. It's just that I've finally mastered their way of speaking, so I've gotten used to speaking it," Gen replied. Her cell phone suddenly began to beep. "Ah, sorry," she apologized, "It's a text message."

She flipped open her phone. It was from Mizuki. The message read as follows:

_We broke up._

Gen stared at the phone in slight disbelief. _He totally just broke up with me using a text message. _

"Oh, that's harsh," commented Watanabe. Gen turned around to find that all of the Shitenhouji members had huddled together to peek over her shoulder.

"Nee-chan, I didn't know you played tennis," said Kintarou. Everyone looked at him confused. He continued, "Who are you going to play doubles with now?"

Everyone simply looked away, sighed, and shook their heads. Shiraishi had an amused look as he ruffled Kintarou's hair.

"It's not quite like that, Kintarou," he said to the young boy, "You'll find out eventually."

"In another four years, maybe," scoffed both Zaizen and Gen. The two looked at each other; Zaizen smirked, while Gen grinned widely.

"Don't worry, Kintarou," teased Koharu, "I'm sure Zaizen-kun would be the perfect doubles partner for Gen-chan. They'd make a nice comedy team."

Gen wrinkled her nose as Zaizen's eye noticeably twitched. "That's too embarrassing," they said together.

"Wah!" Kintarou exclaimed as he bounced up and down, pulling Shiraishi's sleeve, "They really are in synch."

Shiraishi laughed, only to stop quickly as he realized something.

"Ah, Watanabe-sensei!" he cried to the retreating figure of their teacher. Once Watanabe had seen Mizuki's text message to Gen, he soon began to wander away from the group in a half drunken stupor. Shiraishi and Kenya ran to the man's side to bring him back. As the two boys dragged their coach toward the group, Yuushi looked around and noted, "Chitose Senri-san isn't here."

"Ah," Kenjiro said, "He likes to wander off by himself, but he always eventually comes back with some gift."

"That's right." Gen jumped at the sound of said man's voice. Chitose stood smiling behind Gen, holding several boxes of takoyaki. He lifted the boxes and asked, "Who wants some takoyaki?"

"Me!" Kintarou's shout filled the air as he hopped towards the tall boy. Kenya and Yuushi followed behind, their stomachs quietly grumbling. Gen stared at Chitose.

"Where," she asked, "did you get the money to buy that?"

"Oh, I didn't buy it," Chitose answered, smirking somewhat evilly. Shiraishi's eyes widened.

"You _stole_ it?" Shiraishi said.

"Nah, she gave it to me for free. Said I was lucky that I came during the free takoyaki time," Chitose responded. His eyes sparkled with laughter as he continued, "What? You actually thought I would steal something?"

"Any normal person would think that," Shiraishi argued. Zaizen placed a hand on his captain's shoulder and observed, "Shiraishi-buchou, I don't think that's the main point that needs to be addressed here. I don't think that most takoyaki vendors have this so-called 'free takoyaki time', right, Gen-san? Gen-san?"

Gen had left the group and was heading in the direction where Chitose had just come from in hopes of getting some free takoyaki herself. Chitose shook his head as he called out to the girl.

"Gen-san! The free time's over!"

Zaizen sniffed, "More like, it only happened because she thought you were so attractive or something stupid like that, old man."

Chitose grinned. Gen ran back to the group, clearly disappointed.

"I was hoping to get some free takoyaki for Kin-chan later on," she pouted. Shiraishi smiled amusedly at the girl, reached over and ruffled her hair.

"Stupidity does run through the Tooyama family."

Zaizen nodded.


End file.
